Sun kissed Ocean
by jeanne.summers
Summary: Giving into temptation I've decided to indulge in my Guilty Ship: Zutara, since it is Zutara week after all: seven pre-ship fluff pieces for your viewing. 7: Caught
1. Masking lies

My attempt at slightly humorous and fluffy pre-ship moments in accordance with the Zutara Week 2011 prompts.

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><p>Mask<p>

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><p>"You were the Blue Spirit?" Zuko looked offended as Katara's surprised tone.<p>

"Yeah, so?" Katara shook her head, lips pressing briefly into a frown.

"So nothing I was just shocked that's all, I mean you... as the Blue Spirit, scourge of the Fire Nation, master Thief and all that... you?"

"Stop saying like that, if you don't believe me ask Aang, he's seen me as the Blue Spirit."

"And if your really such a stealthy super sneak how would he have known it was you?"

"My mask got knocked of by a Yu Yan archer's arrow."

"But why?"

"Because I didn't duck in time."

"Ha ha. I meant why would you put on a mask and steal from your own nation especially since you were always so dedicated to it?"

"... honestly I don't know... the first time I put on that mask I felt.. free. Like I didn't have to be Banished Prince Zuko any more I could be me... who ever that was. I think I always knew deep down... way, way deep down that my father's methods and this war were wrong but, I didn't want to face it. The funny thing – funny like odd not funny haha – is that the mask didn't hide who I was, it never hid the truth, the mask of the Blue Spirit hid the lies so I could find the truth... unfortunately I can be denser than an Earthbender. Ah I'm not making much sense anyway, never mind."

"No it does, I mean you do... make sense, when I was the Painted Lady every stripe of paint and every piece of the costume stripped away things that I wasn't, things I forced myself to be until all that was left was the person I had really become... the real me is worryingly fond of blowing things up by the way."

"I had noticed that actually... wait the Painted Lady fiasco several weeks ago... that was _you_?"

"Yeah, so?"

"Well it's just surprising that's all, I mean you... as the Painted Lady... _you_?"


	2. History Repeats

Not quite an AU more like a reincarnation fic set way in the future, I trust you can all figure out who is who.

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><p>History<p>

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><p>Tori kicked at the sandy floor with her bare feet, she was bored. Really bored.<p>

"Hey," the husky voice of her companion called to her softly, his fingers snagging the collar of her shirt pulling her closer. "Tour 's almost over, just wait a bit alright?" Tori pouted in what she assumed was Zachary's direction, his smiled slightly, Tori was in fact pouting at a pillar right next to him. With a slight tug Zachary pulled the blind twelve year old even closer, she wrapped her arms around his waist and waited. She'd been really excited when he's mentioned his History class's trip to see the old Fire Nation capitol now she was just bored and waiting for the previously promised ice cream for non destructive behaviour. Zachary turned his attention back to the tourguide's speech taking down notes.

"It was during this year that the second major alteration of the Fire Nation's government occurred, when the newly crowned Fire Lord Zuko married his companion the Master Waterbender and Healer Katara.

"Documentation proves that several royals from the Earth Kingdom and both Polar Tribes were in attendance as well as the Avatar. The marriage between the two was one of the turning points in the healing process and allowed for better internation realtions after the Sozin's War.

"This hall was the same one the wedding ceremony was held in-"

Zachary's attention slipped when a soft body careened into his, he dropped his pen, one hand going to steady Tori as he adjusted his stance to keep his balance, the other to stop the person shaped projectile from falling on her ass.

"Sorry Zachary, Tori." Zachary froze and turned slowly, a few steps away Jason and his band of hooligans were snickering. But more importantly right in front of him was _her_. He stared in shock.

"What the hell was that for?" Tori asked frowning.

"Just Jason being an ass," Zachary replied still staring at _her_.

"I'm really sorry about bumping into you two." Tori snorted, muttering about the definition of 'bumping' into Zachary's hip. "Um... Zachary you can let go now." He immediately released his grip on _her_. "Are you okay? You're kind of staring at me weird."

_Her_ words shocked him into speech, he wished they hadn't. "You know my name."

"yeah, we have several classes together, history included," _she_ made a vague gesture to the ancient hall they were standing in with her notepad. "And Tori hangs out with my friend Angel sometimes."

"Twinkletoes," Tori snorted, "he has the girliest name ever."

"I know, I just didn't... I mean I thought... I..." Zachary stuttered

"What Sparky's trying to say," Tori interrupted "is: Katarine, you can bump into me any time; I've had serious feelings of the emotional variety - concerning you - for quite some time, Tori and I are going to get ice cream once this majorly boring tour is done would you like to go with us..."

Zachary wanted to crawl in a hole and die, he was also adding this to his very long and highly confidential 'list of reasons he was never taking his second cousin thrice removed any where with people ever again,' the same one he would totally ignore next time she asked him to take her somewhere.

"Actually, I added the 'majorly boring' part, Zachary is really into this history stuff."

"Ice cream sounds nice, if you really don't mind I'd like to join you." Katarine smiled at him.

"Okay great."

"Thank you Tori, you're the greatest cousin ever and I owe you lots and lots." Tori said in a slightly patronising tone, Katarine quirked an eyebrow as Zachary repeated the young girl word for word. Smiling Katarine turned back to the tour-guide, the history teacher had promised a quiz on the reign of Fire Lord when the class returned form their trip so she was determined to make sure her notes were thorough.

"Of course there are rumours that both Fire Lord Zuko and Lady Katara would never have gotten together if not for the intervention of Master Earthbender, who also happened to be the first Metalbender, Toph Bei Fong..."


	3. Social Networking for Thieves

This one is either an actual AU or, if you like, you can pretend its a reincarnation fic. Either way its Zuko and Katara in their vigilante-turned-thief-costumes.

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><p>Social Networking<p>

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><p>The Painted Lady, Art Thief Extraordinaire, sat on a roof as the Agents of Law Enforcement combed the city streets for any sign of her, they were truly inept at their jobs. The Painted Lady wondered how anyone got caught by them. She was so unworried by their 'efforts' that she had pulled out her palm top several minutes prior and was surfing her favourite web sites for the latest web news on her heist.<p>

There was the usual poor quality photos of her taken as she fled the crime scene or pilfered from surveillance cameras, a few new sketches of what people imagined she looked like and even a caricature of her latest heist, with her walking out the front door of the museum right past the police. She giggled, it had actually happened quite like that.

Then she notice a new link: Spirit Paint – love amongst thieves.

Curious she clicked on the link, a new site opened up dedicated to her and... The Blue Spirit? She'd heard of him - he was a jewel thief, he robbed banks, stole artefacts, in fact she wasn't sure if his speciality was 'expensive and shiny' or 'whatever grabbed his attention,' - but she'd never actually met him before.

Reading down the page she noticed a chat room, a few quick keystrokes and she was reading the chatter.

_**BountyBabeInBlack says**: And I'm telling you, you half-wit, Blue Spirit has definitely moved into Painted Lady's territory_

_**PrincessMoon says:** that doesn't prove anything, it could be a coincidence, he's probably just after an artefact that's in a her area_

_**MyDadsAMadScientist says**: I'm with Bounty on this one, the Blue Spirit is definitely going to meet up with the Lady_

_**FotuneTellersAssistant says:** I checked with The Bones and The Tea Leaves and The Sticks, they ALL concur: the Blue Spirit is on his way to meet up with his beloved Thief Queen and TOGETHER THEY SHALL ROB THE WORLD!_

The Painted Lady bit back a snort as a siren wielding police car whizzed by her building.

"What. The. Hell?"

_**PrincessMoon says:** I don't think they've even ever talked or met before, how is she his beloved thief queen? Honestly she may not even like him if he infringes on her space, and who says she's the kind of woman who waits for a man to sweep her off her feet._

The Painted Lady smiled, switched on her friend's satellite scramble program and logged on.

_**The Lady who is Painted** has logged on_

_**The Lady who is Painted says:** Thank you PrincessMoon . And you're right, I've never met him and I don't care to, but he can take what he likes as long as he keeps away from my art._

_**The Spirit who is Blue** has logged on_

_**The Spirit who is Blue says:** I'll keep that in mind Lady in Paint and may I just type: you have fabulous posture, especially considering how uncomfortable roofs can be_

_**The Lady who is Painted says**: and how would you know that Spirit?_

_**The Spirit who is Blue says:** the police may be idiots with a two dimensional mindset but I am not, I am also not one to waste such a fantastic view, you really do look quite stunning in the moon light._

The Painted Lady went tense, her eyes flickered about under her veil, spotting the shadow off to her side quickly.

_**The Lady who is Painted says: **I sincerely hope that chimney block is uncomfortable_

_**The Spirit who is Blue says: **not at all, and I would like to point out I am right here, you could have just said that_

_**The Lady who is Painted says**:so could you... you could also come over and introduce yourself_

_**The Spirit who is Blue says:**so could you_

_**The Lady who is Painted says**__:my roof, my area, you already came this far you can go another few __steps_

_**The Spirit who is Blue says: **alright_

The Painted Lady stood and turned as The Blue Spirit closed the gap in a few steps. The Painted Lady's palm top dropped from her hand, The Blue Spirit tilted her hat and veil back, slipped his own mask off to the side, giving her a clear view of his right eye, nose and mouth – he was cute, and about her age too – then The Blue Spirit swooped in, stealing a kiss from The Painted Lady. The Palm top hit the ground, the force of the impact made its built in camera snap a photo and a mashing of the keys had it saved and posted on the website before The Painted Lady could even register what had just happened.

The Painted lady stared in shock at The Blue Spirit as he broke the kiss, he grinned at her and typed something on his own Palm top. The Painted Lady frowned and picked up her dropped one. She raised an eyebrow as she saw the screen. Under her accidental post – of what was a fabulous photo of them kissing in the moon light – was a new entry by him.

_**The Spirit who is Blue says: **he would just like to remind The Painted Lady she did say I could take what I liked as long as I kept away from her art_


	4. Guilty Secrets

So, suprisingly reviews are not a crime, I do actually like them, I would in nfact like to know what people think about my writting.

For instance: could I have written or phrased something better, did I misspell something, does my grammar suck or my punctuation tank, are my characterizations apropriate, and/or did I have a good scenario? That sort of thing.

Anyway here's day... what are we at four? Yeah, here's day four: Secret... and a twist on Katara's view of bloodbending... honestly am I really the first one to have this opinion or have I missed the other stories where this is how she feels about it?

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><p>Secret<p>

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><p>"Tell me a secret, one you've never told anyone... one you can't tell anyone." Zuko said quietly as he and Katara lounged in an empty wing of the Western Air Temple, midnight fast approaching.<p>

"If I can't tell anyone then why can I tell you?"

"Because you don't care what I think of you. And a secret you can't tell anyone is usually one that would make people hate you, you want to hate me, me hating you right back would make it easier."

Katara looked away, almost like she was checking for the others, but they were all fast asleep in their beds.

"Have the others told you I'm a Bloodbender?" Zuko shook his head.

"While we were travelling the Fire Nation before the invasion... there was this old woman from the Water Tribes, a Waterbender, she was taken during the raids decades ago... the Fire Nation put her in a cage with dry air and barely enough water to survive... so she found a new source of water." Here Katara paused, holding up her bare left arm in front of her face letting her right hand slide up along the path of veins, Zuko found the motion both sensual and oddly unsettling.

"Did you know that the human body is roughly three quarters liquids? Hama – that's the Water Tribe woman – went mad in the Fire Nation cage but she discovered a whole new way to bend: Blood bending, when the moon is full and a bender is at her strongest she can take control of the water in a person's blood and make them move like a puppet." Katara paused again, her eyes flicking up from her hands to Zuko to the full moon and back to the teenaged Firebender.

"It's a complete violation of every right and moral a person possess to reach inside some one so intimately and control every beat of their heart, every pull of every muscle; even the motion of their lungs." Katara reached her hands towards Zuko, fingers splayed gracefully. Zuko could feel her, literally feel her, in his blood; she made no moves to control him but they were suddenly both very aware how easily she could kill him. Not even his father or sister had ever held such power over him so _easily_.

"You want a secret that will make you hate me so I can go on hating you? The ability to Bloodbend makes me a monster and the others think I hate myself because I _can_ do it, but that's a lie; I hate myself because I _enjoy_ it." Burning gold and arctic ocean blue met and held each other for an eternity.

"Wow, that is so much scarier than my guilty pleasure." Katara raised an eyebrow at Zuko as she dropped her hands to her lap, relinquishing her hold over him. "As the Blue Spirit I'm kind of the King of Thieves, and I love it." There was a silence, then the air filled with quiet laughter.


	5. Awkward Conversation

Many hugs and cookies for Ty my first, and thus far ONLY, reveiwer!

An explanation for this piece? Please we ALL know he's thought about it.

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><p>Awkward<p>

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><p>The entire Gaang sat around the fire, plus their 'new' additions from Boiling Rock Prison. There was casual discussion and friendly banter mixed in with terse comments from Katara about Zuko. Zuko just sighed as Katara berated him again.<p>

"Maybe we should just have Angry Hate Sex, that'd get it out of your system." He thought, eyeing Katara contemplatively. He was suddenly aware of a very heavy silence around the fire and all eyes – even Toph's unseeing ones – fixed firmly on him. Hakoda and Sokka seemed unusually frowny.

"... I just said that out loud didn't I?" Zuko asked, several heads nodded, Toph began laughing loudly. The fire prince squeezed his eyes shut. "Agni dammit."


	6. Legendary Tales

This prompt threw me for a loop and I have been a little dehydrated/mildly heat struck, plus I finally got my Xena DVDs back the other day and I was thinking: Zuko as Xena, Katara as Gabrielle... Lu Ten as Argo :D

Of course I was also thinking Hama as the crazy lady (Najara) who hears Djinn and is obsessed with Gabrielle (Katara) and Aang as Eli... avatar pun intended. :P

I could so totally see that working... right up until Xena/Zuko gets pregnant with Eve... Some one should totally write that... the A:tla as X:wp not the Zuko mpreg with the messenger of Eli... T.T

Anyway here is my really bad attempt at the prompt 'Legendary,' feel free to throw things at me... and please forgive me this one is long and probably badly edittedededed... I'm gonna go watch Xena... ^_^

OH! Also: see if you can spot the movie reference. Hint: It's near the end. XD

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><p>Legendary<p>

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><p>or<p>

The Scarred Swordsman and the Water Witch

or

Why not to write a prompt fic when slightly off your gourd and thinking about A:TLA as Xena: Warrior Princess

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><p>"<em>Grandpa, grandpa, tell us a story!" The little girl jumped around her favourite grown up. Behind her an odd dozen or so young children shouted in agreement, the old man looked on with ancient eyes at the gathering of tiny children, smiling to himself at the array of features, all the nations represented in miniature right in front of him.<em>

"_What sort of story Dawn?" the little girl pouted, deep in thought._

"_A love story!" she declared suddenly._

"_No! I want an a'venture story!" one of the boys shouted._

"_Can we hear a true story" another boy asked._

"_But those are boring, I want one with spirits and magic." this came from one of the little girls._

_The old man smirked, he knew just the story._

"_Alright then a true love story with adventure and a dash or three of spirit magic..._

The world you children were born into is constantly changing, the people are inventing things, having new ideas and having old ones challenged, everyone respects everyone else's right to find their own truth. A hundred years ago it was very different, a century past we were a world divided, everyone stuck to there own nation and if you didn't agree with someone then you were wrong, even if you were right.

"_This doesn't sound like a good story"_

_It is, just wait._

You see, a hundred years ago there was a very bad king, a War Lord... _The_ War Lord, and he had a son who wasn't as ruthless and mean hearted as his father, so his father hated him. One day when the son reached his teenage years he was allowed into The War Lord's war council, it was a meeting where The War Lord and his generals plotted to take over the world.

One of the generals proposed a plan that would gain them much territory but loose hundreds of soldiers, hearing this the son shouted out 'No! You cannot do this, you cannot send our people to their deaths like this!' The War Lord was furious that his own son would show such weakness _and_ defy him so openly. The War Lord was devious and he knew that he could not kill his own son lest he risk dissent among his men.

"_What's decent?"_

_Dissent, it means the people would have gotten upset and begun disobeying the War Lord._

Instead of risking that, The War Lord marked his son, striking him across the face with a fist of fire. 'You are unworthy of a place on this council, you show your ignorance and disrespect, I banish you until you have proven yourself worthy.'

The War Lord's son asked 'How can I prove myself to you?'

The War Lord told his son 'You may return only if you bring the Avatar with you.' with that, The War Lord's guards dragged his son away to the edge of his kingdom where he was put in a boat and sent adrift. For many days and many nights the son despaired, no one had seen the Avatar in a hundred years, The War Lord himself had spent many years searching and never found a trace of the spirit given human form.

Finally after weeks at sea the banished son, whose face now bore a terrible scar, made land in a strange kingdom, he wandered for many weeks, searching for something he thought he would never find. At last in a village in the southern peninsular of the kingdom he heard a rumour of a great library where all the knowledge on earth could be found, the library in the great desert.

With a goal that was much more achievable, and much smarter than just wandering, the scarred boy set of in search of the library in the hopes it could tell him where the missing Avatar hid.

Once he reached the desert the scarred son scoured every dune and valley of the shifting sandscape, he traversed deeper and deeper into the desert until finally he became lost and ran out of water, still he pressed on until at last exhaustion and thirst over came him, he collapsed onto the sand. Alone and unconscious in the desert the boy dreamed, but it was any dream, it was a vision sent by the spirits themselves.

In the vision he saw his cousin who had died many years before in a great battle. His cousin spoke to him and said 'You have travelled so far and you have a long way to go still, your destiny lies elsewhere. It is a terrible burden and a terrible fate which you face, I will help to carry you.'

When the scarred boy woke he found himself face to face with a horse the colour of the clouds, whose mane and tail were the colour of the midnight sky and possessed eyes that glowed like the sun, and he knew his vision had been real, for this was his cousin in the body of a horse, his cousin who would help him find his destiny.

The scarred boy and his cousin the horse travelled out of the desert and through the surrounding kingdom where they came across an old couple in distress, with out thinking the boy leapt into action fighting off the men attacking the helpless old pair. It wasn't till the last of the offenders had fled that the boy realised they had been his father's own men.

It was then that the boy understood his destiny, his father was a tyrant who threatened the world and he had to be stopped.

For two years he and his cousin the horse travelled the land, stopping his father's armies where they could and helping those who had been hurt by the soldiers, and a rumour and a legend began to grow around the boy and his strange steed, The Scarred Swordsman they called him, after the dual Dao blades he wielded in combat, The Scarred Swordsman and his Sky Horse.

One day while travelling in the northern reaches of the kingdom the duo came across a young woman who battled The War Lord's forces, she moved with unimaginable grace using water as a weapon. The element moved to her whim, froze itself and melted at her command, she was a sight to behold and she cut through the soldiers with ease, but the Scarred Swordsman realised she was in trouble, for not even this Water Witch could fight of the hundreds that surrounded her.

Quickly The Scarred Swordsman and his cousin The Sky Horse joined the Witch in battle, together the three took care of the legions of The War Lord's men. After the battle The Swordsman tried to talk to The Witch but she was busy winding her way through the battle field looking for survivors. When she found one she used her water magic to heal them and she said 'Your soul is damaged by the evil you do, repent and wash yourself clean of the past, go out into the world and make amends.'

Whenever a soldier refused her command she told them 'I have saved your life, it belongs to me now, you will do as I ask and you will make amends for your misdeeds.'

The Swordsman heard the echo of the spirits in her voice, the soldiers heard only the truth of her words and they relented and pledge themselves to the cause The Witch had set them. When at last there were no more survivors the Swordsman asked her 'Who are you, how could you so easily forgive those who would have seen you dead not three hours past.'

'I am from the frozen lands far across the sea,' she told him 'and it is the nature of the ocean and the rivers and the rain to adapt and wash all things clean. This is the task that was set to me by the spirits as I lay dying of despair in the tundra's; to heal the wounds of the world and cleanse the infection of hate is my destiny.'

'Then I will travel with you,' the Swordsman said, 'for it is my destiny to stop The War Lord's plague and it would seem our goals may be the same, for he is the source of the Earth's illness.'

The Witch agreed, and with those words, the fate of the world was sealed for the spirits had been waiting for a warrior and a healer to pledge themselves in alliance against The War Lord, now the Avatar could return.

And return he did, awoken by The Water Witch's own brother, The Sea Wolf, The Avatar and The Sea Wolf travelled north to the kingdom where The Witch, The Swordsman and The Sky Horse travelled, fighting back The War Lords darkness; around the two groups formed a resistance, those who were finally ready to stand up for themselves and live as they wanted, free and in peace. Chief amongst them were The Blind Bandit, a young girl who could see with out her eyes and The Warrior Maiden, who was raised to fight the War Lord's forces and fell in love with The Sea Wolf.

Soon the seven came together and forged a plan that would end the War Lord's reign of terror once and for all, with the aid of the resistance The Swordsman, The Witch, The Avatar, The Sea Wolf, The Blind Bandit, The Warrior Maiden and The Sky Horse sailed a fleet of ships into the harbour of The War Lord's capital city. The War Lord and his generals stood waiting for the seven to emerge.

The Scarred swordsman went first, followed closely by the others, he looked at his father and said 'War Lord, I have met the conditions you set to prove myself worthy, I have returned home and I have brought the Avatar with me. I have seen much in my time away and I must tell you War Lord, it is you who is unworthy.'

The War Lord went into a rage and the battle begun, the seven fought valiantly against The War Lord and his men until only The War Lord was left.

His son looked down upon him with sad eyes, The War Lord looked back with a pleading face, 'surely my son you would not kill your own father.'

'You are right,' The Swordsman said with a sad sigh, 'I would not kill my own father...' The War Lord's face shone with wicked glee. 'but you are no father of mine War Lord.'

The Blind Bandit stopped her foot on the ground and her friends, the ground and stone spirits, open a deep, deep hole which swallowed The War Lord, sending him tumbling down to a prison far below the earth's surface where he would never be found.

On the shore of the harbour The Swordsman fell to his knees, The Witch knelt down before him. 'What is wrong?' she asked. The Swordsman shook his head.

'My destiny... is it over now, have I completed the task the spirits have asked of me?'

'I do not know,' she replied, 'if it is over, what will you do now?' The Swordsman thought for a short time.

'Your destiny is to heal this world, if you will allow me I would travel with you and aid you in your destiny.'

'Why?' she asked.

'You aided me in my destiny and I fear I may have fallen in love with you, if you turn me away I feel I will fade away into nothing, please will you let me come with you, will you let helping you be my purpose in life?'

The Water Witch nodded and kissed The Swordsman. 'I would not have it any other way, my dear companion.'

So the Witch, The Swordsman and The Sky Horse went of, following the path of The Witch's destiny, healing the world of its sickness, while The Avatar, The Bandit, The Sea Wolf and The Warrior Maiden went their own way helping the people to find peace and freedom.

"_Ahem." The old man looked up and saw his wife and friends watching from the doorway, "I'm sorry my little darlings but your parents are all here to pick you up."_

"_AWWW!" the group of children whined._

"_Can't we stay just a little longer?" Dawn asked, her grandmother shook her head. Grumbling the children left the room in search of their parents in the next one._

"_You know Sokka," the storyteller looked up at the sound of his name._

"_Yeah Zuko?"_

"_That's not quite the way I remember it."_

"_I'm with Zuko," Katara said sitting down with a grace that should have been impossible at her age, "That's not how it happened."_

"_Well yeah," Sokka groused, "That's because if I told them what really happened they'd never believe me."_

"_If I hadn't been there I wouldn't have believed it either," Aang agreed cuddling his wife, Toph smirked._

"_I don't know Twinkletoes, you are pretty gullible." Suki laughed with the rest as she slid into the chair beside her husband._

"_I thought you told it wonderfully," she said._


	7. Catch of the Day

So I had a couple of ideas for 'caught' but they didn't really feel like they really defined the theme of 'caught.' So I went with a vetted theme with my own twist.

Now I'm slightly more sober then yesterday so I finally got a round to ading my disclaimer which usually shows up somewhere I my fics:

Canon characters are canon and belong to their owners, if my plot ideas prompt an idea (or your plotbunnies) then run with it, just drop me a line to say 'stole this, canabalising it... totally did it better' or what have you, review as you like, I appreciate constructive messages and use flames for my destructive tendancies, but I'm not gonna die with out them.

Enjoy or don't I'm gonna go see what my muse is doing with that cauldron and bag of plot bunnies.

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><p>Caught<p>

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><p>The war of Sozin lasted almost a day.<p>

The day of the comet.

In that day the armies of the Fire Nation changed the face of the world and almost destroyed it.

Sozin sent his armies to the four temples of the Air Nomads and to the poles, to the great ice cities of the Water Tribes.

When the comet lit the sky on fire the Fire Nation attacked, killing most of the Nomads and scattering the rest to the four winds.

The attacks on the Water Tribes ended much worse, for the Fire Lord had devised a plan to take the cities from the Tribes forever. While the comet reigned the Fire Benders blanketed the poles in fire and melted the caps.

A day later the world had flooded and only a few thousand of the Earth and Fire Nations peoples had survived the theft of their land by the ocean.

The Water Tribes however, flourished in the new water filled world, they lashed together their many, many boats and made great floating cities, they already knew how to live off the ocean and they saw no need to hurry the refreezing of the caps.

Several years after Sozin's Flood rumours began to appear, rumours that the Ocean spirit had blessed it's children with gifts that brought them even closer to their natural element, stories spoke of half human, half fish tribesmen.

Zuko had always thought they were just stories until the summer of his eighteenth year.

He had taken a net out to the rocky shores where the fish were plentiful but the footing treacherous and set about collecting fish for his mother.

As the midday sun blazed over head Zuko cast his net out into the water again, when he reeled it in he found his catch was not what he expected.

Tangled in the net amongst dozens of silver scaled fish was a young woman with eyes like the ocean, her skin glittered in the sun light and Zuko quickly realised her body was covered with scales.

She watched him cautiously, curiously, as he drew his knife from his boot.

"I won't hurt you," he said softly, trying not to scare her, her blue eyes fixated on the knife; Zuko edged closer, he could see that in her attempt to escape the sea maiden had tangled the net so badly it would have to be cut. Carefully he sliced through the lines of the net, the young woman merely watched in silence, Zuko wondered if she could speak, if she could understand what he had said. Finally she was free and she scuttled away from him as quickly as she could, he noted the odd way she moved, as if her body was unused to its own weight, her legs and feet moved awkwardly. As she neared the edge of the rocks, and made to slip back into the ocean, he called out to her.

"Wait, I'm sorry about snaring you, my name's Zuko." She cocked her head curiously, "Do you understand me?" he asked, she looked at him for a moment longer and slid back into the waves. Zuko clambered over to the edge were the young woman had been a moment before, he peered into the water hoping to glimpse her. Suddenly she rose from the depths, one hand on the rocks hoisting her up, the other slipping around his neck. The woman's lips pressed against his for a brief moment before she pulled away.

"Katara," she said before disappearing beneath the surface once more. Zuko sat there stunned for several minutes before he shouted at the ocean.

"Wait, Katara? Is that your name?" he got no reply.

* * *

><p>Beneath the ocean in a city called Lantia two young women sat talking, one woman was only paying passing attention to the conversation, fixated instead on a pendant she had procured earlier that day; a legged serpent twined around a stylised sun, she was thankful it was made of gold, it would not rust or decay in the ocean.<p>

"Katara, you're not listening."

"Of course I am Yue." the elder of the two fixed the younger with a look. "alright so maybe I wasn't listening all that well..."

"What is that anyway?" Yue gestured to the golden pendant. Katara blushed.

"I took it from his neck."

"Whose neck?"

"Zuko."

"Zuko? What kind of name is Zuko?"

"It's the name of the land walker I think I accidentally caught today."

"You didn't."

"I think I may have."

"Did you kiss him?"

Katara just nodded.

"You can't keep him, you'll have to throw him back."

"Do I have to?"

Yue gave her friend another look, Katara pouted.

"Damn it."


End file.
